Glover taps into beat of his creativityMore than any tap dancer working today, Savion Glover epitomizes here and now. The 31- year-old virtuoso has never been content with the pat routine. He dances in the moment and on the edge, music unspooling from his extraordinarily gifted feet with the seemingly effortless flow of spontaneous creativity.

Critics like to complain that there aren’t any great dancers today though there are many above-average ones. Savion Glover is one of the greats. Fifty years from now, people will remember his performances with awe and mistrust. Could anyone have danced for 45 minutes non-stop with such a continuous flow of inspiration? Did he really do those remarkable feats of daring, intricacy, and stamina? Did he actually tap, sing, and carry on a sophisticated give-and-take with four musician partners all at the same time?

Savion Glover still tapping on door of innovationI fretted when I looked at the program for “Classical Savion.” Among the selections were plenty of warhorses: Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” a Mozart divertimento, even Bach’s third “Brandenberg Concerto.” Would America’s greatest tap dancer be paying lip service to European music history? Hardly.

Glover taps into the soul of classical scores“Bach is God’s favorite composer,” Mark Morris, perhaps the most musical of all contemporary choreographers, once told me.

That comment, along with memories of Morris’s own polyphonic dances, came to mind frequently Sunday night, as tap genius Savion Glover -- accompanied by nine classical string musicians -- cracked open the compositions of masters from Bach to Bartok, revealing previously unimagined nuances within the familiar scores.

Tonight's Supplemental Percussionist: Master of Tapby JOHN ROCKWELL for the New York Times

Tap has a venerable history, and Mr. Glover, its reigning virtuoso and star, is always good at acknowledging his past. That said, his signature style - loud, percussive tapping, rapid roulades augmenting, answering and challenging the musicians - can seem a little repetitious. No wonder he has sought variety.

The current show, suitable for the season, is called "Visions of a Bible."

Heels and ToesTap virtuoso honors, probes, and redefines the formby DEBORAH JOWITT for the Village Voice

The performance is compact — an intermissionless hour and 10 minutes of music and dancing — and simply presented. Glover begins on his ingeniously mic'd platform, pattering his feet meditatively. He's wearing cream-colored pants, a white singlet, a necklace, and a loose, unbuttoned blue shirt. Beside the platform stands Hunter, dressed less casually in a ruffled, sparsely sequined pink gown. In the first three numbers, before his four-man band, the Otherz, enters, Glover plays with the rhythms of Hunter's singing — weaving complex patterns around it, increasing the volume and intensity of his dancing as her voice swells from pensiveness into fervor.

Swinging beats like crazy, riffing on themes by jazz icons John Coltrane and Miles Davis, Glover emerged a percussionist as dexterous with his feet as any drummer could hope to be with a pair of sticks.

EVIEWSavion Glover taps into rhythm of classical music for dance magic

Rachel Howard, Special to the Chronicle

Monday, September 25, 2006

"Can you get rid of that?" Savion Glover called to a harried stagehand at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall on Friday night. And then, after the speaker's hum persisted, "Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to do this next number ex-amplification."

No one worried. Just 10 minutes into Glover's latest touring show, "Classical Savion," it was clear the onetime "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk" prodigy doesn't need mikes. In fact, it takes a while to adjust to the thunderous boom of Glover's taps on a hollow wood stage as behind him a nine-piece string ensemble plays everything from Mendelssohn to Shostakovich. But even when Glover's rhythms were as light and crisp as castanets, the crowd was rapt .

"He is amazing, though," a woman said in the interval, in unconvinced tones. I think I know how she felt. Savion Glover is the most celebrated tap dancer of his generation, a performer of great strength and stamina. Live for London, his British debut, ended with a standing ovation. Yet Glover keeps sacrificing style to speed and sheer volume. He may not be likeable, but he's certainly loud.

In the opening number, he holds down the central one, flanked by Marshall L. Davis Jr. and Maurice Chestnut. As his green-shod feet stitch increasingly complex patterns onto the resonant floor, Davis and Chestnut tap a repeating bass line. When the three men suddenly drop into perfect unison, it takes your breath away.

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